XPN

July 27, 2007 
WXPN's midday concert series continues with an actress-turned-singer and two singers-turned-actors. Driver just released her second album of pop, soul and blues, while The Swell Season's Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova star in the indie film sensation Once.

July 26, 2007 
Playing under the name The Swell Season, Irish singer Glen Hansard and Czech newcomer Marketa Irglova sing affecting folk-rock songs with blissful harmonies. Hear the stars of the sleeper hit musical Once recorded live in concert from Washington, D.C.

July 20, 2007  Turandot, Puccini's extravagant portrayal of ancient China, is home to "Nessun dorma!" — one of music's most famous numbers — a soaring tenor aria that's been recorded by performers ranging from Franco Corelli and Placido Domingo, to the Twelve Girls Band and the Scottish Fiddle Orchestra.

July 18, 2007 
Gogol Bordello is a spectacle. The wildly exuberant, multi-ethnic group from New York City makes frenetic music that's part punk rock, part Gypsy folk, part Cabaret. The band is famous for its costumed live shows that often stretch for more than two explosive hours.

July 16, 2007 
Emerging in the late '90s as one of the U.K.'s most passionate and infectious rock bands, Travis helped inspire a wave of new Britpop groups that included acts like Coldplay and Keane. The group is now on tour for its most inspired album in years.

Travis in Concert on All Songs Considered - 07/16/2007

July 13, 2007 
A veritable superstar in his native Nigeria, Femi Kuti is the standard bearer for Afro-beat, the blend of American jazz and funk with African percussion and vocals pioneered by his father, Fela Kuti in the 1970s. Hear Femi Kuti recorded live in concert from Washington, D.C.

Femi Kuti in Concert on All Songs Considered - 07/13/2007

July 13, 2007 
The brilliant soprano Anna Netrebko stars in Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro, an opera with a slapstick surface that hides deeply emotional roots. The production is from the Salzburg Festival.

XPN

July 13, 2007 
In a career that now spans five albums, Nathanson has built a loyal cult following with memorable roots-pop songs and a witty live presence. Hear Nathanson perform a concert from WXPN and World Cafe Live in Philadelphia.

Matt Nathanson in concert on XPN Live Fridays - 07/13/2007

July 6, 2007 
Mussorgsky's sprawling drama Boris Godunov is actually an intimate, psychological portrait played out on an epic scale. It comes to us from the Vienna State Opera, with bass Ferruccio Furlanetto in the title role.

XPN

July 6, 2007 
Best known as the keyboardist for the British Invasion band The Small Faces (later known as The Faces), Ian McLagan has remained active as a session man and a no-nonsense rocker in the nearly three decades since setting out on his own.

June 30, 2007 
With two-dozen uniformed members, The Polyphonic Spree is more like a small army than a band. True to its image, the Dallas-based group makes high-energy, symphonic rock with the exuberance of a heavenly choir. Hear the band in concert.

XPN

June 29, 2007 
Few bands can rival The Polyphonic Spree's sound — not to mention its size. A whopping two dozen members strong, the group brings its commanding stage presence to a live performance at WXPN and World Cafe Live in Philadelphia, along with alt-country singer Mark Olson.

June 29, 2007 
Mozart's La finta semplice tells a sophisticated story of adult love, romantic deception and backstabbing — and he composed it when he was just 12 years old! It comes to us from the Salzburg Festival.

June 22, 2007 
Richard Thompson has been making inspired music for forty years. A guitar virtuoso, early innovator of the British folk-rock movement, and one of the era's finest songwriters, his distinctive style as an artist has influenced two generations of musicians and poets.